Publisher's Weekly
The suspenseful and heart-wrenching fifth Cassidy McCabe mystery finds the likable Chicago therapist and her reporter husband, Zach, going their separate ways with their own cases--and nearly breaking up as a result. Twice one night a worried Cassidy checks up on her reclusive, cat-loving neighbor, Olivia Mallory. The first time a nervous Olivia gives her the brush-off. Cassidy later returns to discover a drunken ex-convict in the living room and Olivia in the basement, shot to death. The police arrest the ex-con, who was Olivia's prison pen pal. Convinced the man is innocent, Cassidy decides she must find the real murderer. When she locates Olivia's private papers, she realizes just how many people her spiteful neighbor had threatened and injured. Undaunted, she jumps in to question the woman's attorney, an illegal alien gardener, a cat-hating neighbor, Olivia's estranged daughter and loony aunt and a larcenous employer. Meanwhile, Zach, adopting the persona of JC, a hard-nosed, unlovable addict, has gone undercover to flush out two cops who are major players in the Chicago drug trade. Zach's inability to shake his persona at home and off duty threatens their marriage. Husband and wife must come to terms with their own frailties before Cassidy can bring her investigation to a triumphant close. (May) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.|

Library Journal
Matthews hits her stride in this exciting addition to the Cassidy McCabe series. Here, the Chicago psychotherapist chides herself about her husband, an intense investigative reporter who must impersonate an unlikable wannabe drug dealer in order to expose a pair of dirty cops. But the real problem is Olivia, her reclusive, feral cat-feeding neighbor, whose odd and/or offensive habits provide her with many enemies and an ex-con acquaintance. When someone kills Olivia and police wrongly blame the ex-con, Cassidy looks for the real murderer. Infectious prose, concurrent his-and-her plots, and a spunky little like-to-help grandma place this at the top of the list. Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.